Yeah Evenepoel at de Ronde would be very good for the race I think
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Only because people can act surprised that he did not play any significant role after being dropped due to bad positioning and other missing skills for this type of race.
Like at the world championship, where he didn't play a significant role. Or during two editions of BBT where he also didn't play a significant role. Or BCC, or Druivenkoers. Or how he isn't capable to make his mark in a sprint train.
You seem to be mistaking Flemish classics for Strade Bianchi.
Rijdt Alaphilippe zondag toch mee in de Ronde? Wereldkampioen duikt op Ronde-parcours op | sporza
Julian Alaphilippe is bij Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl normaal gezien niet voorzien voor de Ronde van Vlaanderen. Maar vandaag verkende de wereldkampioen een deel van het parcours aan de zijde van titelverdediger Kasper Asgreen.
Alaph possibly doing RVV?
Rijdt Alaphilippe zondag toch mee in de Ronde? Wereldkampioen duikt op Ronde-parcours op | sporza
Julian Alaphilippe is bij Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl normaal gezien niet voorzien voor de Ronde van Vlaanderen. Maar vandaag verkende de wereldkampioen een deel van het parcours aan de zijde van titelverdediger Kasper Asgreen.sporza.be
Alaph possibly doing RVV?
That would be really cool. But I guess there is a possibility that he can be there for other reasons (the article says he has an apartment in Ronse, if I understand it correctly).
Yes. That's what it says. The article just speculates that because he is training with Asgreen on the RVV course, that there might be more to it.
No he did play a significant role there. But all those races are very different in nature then Flanders. Evenepoel would be crushed by the Jumbo train in similar fashion as Senechal etc.
Positioning is not that good, bike handling skills are not that good and he lacks quite a bit of punch. Yes, please have him try Flanders, the race where none of those skills are needed.
Somehow you seem to actually think that the Brussel Cycling Classic, some Druivenkoerse and the World Cup are good references for Flemish classics. I just don’t think they are.
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One word needed: Anticipation.
Mads Pedersen was second in the race because he anticipated proceedings from afar. Now imagine what a rider who is much, much better at riding alone could do with the same strategy.
Yeah maybe. Just don’t see the peloton giving Evenepoel space in the same way Mads got that back in 2018 on the Koppenberg.
I think Evenepoel is too big a name in the peloton to get the space needed to anticipate. Yet he is not good enough to play with the big boys in this kind of race.
Quickstep must feel the same, otherwise they would have brought him along for the ride by now. Even though the last Itzulia stage might also be a bit too hard for Remco, I think it is still a better bet than Flanders.
You think RVV is completely different in nature of last WCC. Similar narrow roads, occasional cobbles, technical city center with narrow streets where positioning is important. Short punchy climbs? Check. Best riders in the world present? Yup. 250+k race. Nervous and chaotic race situations... But you've got it all figured out.
If anything, a Jumbo train would actually be in his advantage as it drags out the effort and reduces the importance of being punchy. You might remember the reason why Van Aert was squeezed at the WCC? According to Van Aert's entourage it was because Evenepoel made the race too hard. Not the other way around.
Yet at the WCC he went from 130k and none of the big boys wanted to follow him and he single-handedly killed Italy. Even if he would not be in contention for the win, he definitely has the potential to play a defining role.
Yeah if we are now seriously comparing the cobbles of the moskesstraat to the cobbles of the oude kwaremont and the pater for example then this discussion doesn’t make much sense to me.
Maybe by anticipating from very early on he can make the race harder. I will agree that he has the necessary skillset for that. Allthough i am still very much of the opinion that Remco is lacking in so many other areas needed for Flanders.
But with the exception of Asgreen none of the Quickstep riders seems to need a harder race at the moment, so you would do it for perhaps improving the chances of Asgreen by a slight margin. Does that really justify throwing around Evenepoels race schedule that is focused on becoming a GC contender in one week races + the Ardennes?
Also, maybe he can anticipate in the Arrate stage?
It's quite clear the discussion doesn't make much sense to you. So now it's the few hundreds of meters of slightly rougher cobbles in a 250km race that would be his undoing.Yeah if we are now seriously comparing the cobbles of the moskesstraat to the cobbles of the oude kwaremont and the pater for example then this discussion doesn’t make much sense to me.
Maybe by anticipating from very early on he can make the race harder. I will agree that he has the necessary skillset for that. Allthough i am still very much of the opinion that Remco is lacking in so many other areas needed for Flanders.
But with the exception of Asgreen none of the Quickstep riders seems to need a harder race at the moment, so you would do it for perhaps improving the chances of Asgreen by a slight margin. Does that really justify throwing around Evenepoels race schedule that is focused on becoming a GC contender in one week races + the Ardennes?
Also, maybe he can anticipate in the Arrate stage?
And while i do think they could have rearranged his schedule easily, the opposite is hardly an argument when saying he is lacking the skills.
But it's clear in your mind Evenepoel has regressed to being a rider, only capable of riding falls flat TT's on straight roads. Might i propose the Wielerflits discussion boards for you?
He just published the following message on his IG: "happy to start racing again next week #Itzulia"
Seems like a panic move from QS when they have noticed have bad it has gone on the previous races, throw him in out of form to try to help Asgreen out.
It will probably be to announce the special jersey they wear every year at de Ronde.
Bit weak from your side to now exaggerate my opinion to a level where I have regressed Evenepoel to a rider who is only capable of riding flat TT's. That is far from the truth, I believe Remco is a very good rider for a lot of races. However I just think he is not a good rider for the Flemish Classics. But by now I should have realized that Logic-is-not-your-friend when it comes to certain riders.
That's just mean.
But okay, combining those two would have been tough and in light of the Ardennes, Itzuliq does make much more sense, I'm afraid. No Amstel either, I assume.
Logic is very much my friend. That's exactly why i'm stating what i'm stating and he's proven at the WCC that i'm right. But hey, there are some cobble sections in RVV that are somewhat rougher, so clearly i'm the one who's grasping at straws. What a strong case you're making, so let's not discuss this any further.
I think you know as well as I do that the moskesstraat is hardly worthy of the name cobbled section after what they did to it last year.
We will leave it there.
There was no other race on the calendar more like it all things considered. In terms of stakes. In terms of length. In terms of quality field. In terms of recurring short climbs. In terms of narrow, twisty roads. In terms of nervousness... etc etc etc
We'll leave it there.
Another horror show for the team today, except for Asgreen they are a complete non-entity in the races they used to dominate. Of course they had a couple of riders falling ill at the wrong moment but at the same time they haven't reinforced their cobbles team in three years.
Now Stybar is old, Sénéchal has never won anything, Lampaert has never won any of the big classics, Ballerini has a fluky Omloop and that's basically it in terms of their leaders not named Asgreen. They have nobody coming through either as almost all of their younger signings in recent years are more climber-oriented. This situation really is not coming out of nowhere.
In the sprints they have a similar problem coming up as they have nobody who can replace an ageing Morkov as a leadout. They really need to go back what they're good at instead of living in the fantasy of becoming a GC team because Evenepoel isn't competing for GTs any time soon, and at this stage I'd say probably never will be. None of their other climbers will, either.
And even if he could, they can't realistically support him in stage races, plus Jakobsen in sprints, plus Alaphilippe on hills, plus maintaining their usual level in the classics all at once - that's exactly what we're seeing now. Something has to give - right now it's inadvertently their cobbles team which is the most stupid option possible for a Belgian squad.
And with Jakobsen being under contract for another year and Alaphilippe and Evenepoel for longer, they can't reverse the situation easily unless they want to boot one of the three before their contract is up... I maintain that signing Evenepoel until 2026 during his long recovery from his Lombardia crash was an ill-advised decision that is in the process of backfiring.
Now Stybar is old, Sénéchal has never won anything, Lampaert has never won any of the big classics, Ballerini has a fluky Omloop and that's basically it in terms of their leaders not named Asgreen. They have nobody coming through either as almost all of their younger signings in recent years are more climber-oriented. This situation really is not coming out of nowhere.
In the sprints they have a similar problem coming up as they have nobody who can replace an ageing Morkov as a leadout. They really need to go back what they're good at instead of living in the fantasy of becoming a GC team because Evenepoel isn't competing for GTs any time soon, and at this stage I'd say probably never will be. None of their other climbers will, either.
And even if he could, they can't realistically support him in stage races, plus Jakobsen in sprints, plus Alaphilippe on hills, plus maintaining their usual level in the classics all at once - that's exactly what we're seeing now. Something has to give - right now it's inadvertently their cobbles team which is the most stupid option possible for a Belgian squad.
And with Jakobsen being under contract for another year and Alaphilippe and Evenepoel for longer, they can't reverse the situation easily unless they want to boot one of the three before their contract is up... I maintain that signing Evenepoel until 2026 during his long recovery from his Lombardia crash was an ill-advised decision that is in the process of backfiring.
And to add to what I said previously - Jumbo were in the same boat until this winter, not having enough cobbles support for Van Aert because they also had to build a team around Roglic and were carrying a big sprinter in Groenewegen. They had the ruthlessness to jettison their only native, but also only underperforming leader in Groenewegen, then immediately signed Benoot after already having gotten a hold of Laporte, and the rest is history. Quickstep need to do something similar because it just isn't possible to build world-class teams in all four main areas of the sport at once.
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